Daddy's Girl
by quietandsneaky
Summary: When Lonnie's daughter is the victim of a hit and run, he spends the time while she recovers thinking back to memories of his past life. But out of what he thinks is his worst nightmare may come the best thing to ever happen to him. Focuses not so much on the investigation of the hit and run but on the relationship of Lonnie and his daughter.
1. Chapter 1

I don't want to do this for each chapter, so I'll say it here and now and here and now only. But it applies to every chapter. I do not own In the Heat of the Night, but I do own the characters of Abbey and Rebecca. Please R/R.


	2. Chapter 2

Lonnie double checked what he had in his pockets and in his car, getting ready to go on shift in just a few minutes. At least that's what he told himself. He knew that, deep down, he was just trying to prolong the time he got to spend with his daughter, Abbey. At the moment, Abbey was inside, putting her school stuff down and coming back out to sit with him until he had to leave at 4:00 sharp. Lonnie went to the steps and sat down. Right about that moment, Abbey walked out and handed him an apple from the bowl in the kitchen. She held one in her other hand, Lonnie presumed for her. Lonnie couldn't help but smile. Abbey was so tiny that the apples were almost bigger than her hand.

"Thank you, baby." Lonnie said, kissing her forehead in appreciation.

"You're welcome, daddy." Abbey said, the brightest smile crossing her face.

As Lonnie asked Abbey questions about her day, he did what he usually did. He half listened to her and took a good, long look at her. Abbey had fairly long wavy brown hair, which he never had much trouble getting brushed in the morning. The color was a shade between her mother's raven black and his own deep brown hair. Abbey was small for her age. Even though she was five years old, Lonnie thought she looked more like a three year old. Her doctor had told him at each visit that it was nothing to worry about, that Abbey was perfectly healthy, and that it was just normal for some children to be small. Abbey's size, however, was contrasted by her personality. She was a fiercely independent child, which Lonnie both loved and hated. She loved to be held, cuddled, hugged, and kissed. She talked a hundred miles an hour, but made sure that every word she said was perfectly understood by whoever was listening to her. It was for all these reasons and more that Lonnie hated leaving her three nights a week, but it had to be done. Abbey was in the middle of a story when Rebecca Shay, Lonnie's full time sitter, pulled into the driveway. Becky had been his wife's best friend almost from the time the two were born, and had volunteered to watch Abbey when Lonnie had to work from the day of Sarah's funeral. Lonnie checked his watch. 3:55. It was almost time for him to go. He watched as Abbey ran over to hug Rebecca. Rebecca picked Abbey up and carried her back over to the steps. A look of sadness had crossed over Abbey's face.

"Do you have to go, daddy?" she asked.

"'Fraid so, darling." he answered. "Give me a hug before I go?" Lonnie opened his arms and Abbey reluctantly went into them.

Becky rubbed a comforting hand on Abbey's back. "Don't be sad, honey. Don't you remember what I told you we were doing tonight?"

Abbey suddenly perked up. "Oh, yeah!"

Lonnie smiled. "What are you two up to?"

"Can't tell you, daddy." Abbey said, pursing her lips to keep silent.

"It's a surprise." Becky responded, putting a finger up to her lips.

"Okay. You two behave yourselves." Lonnie told them, kissing Abbey on the cheek and putting her back down.

"Why don't you go in the kitchen and wash your hands, babe? I need to talk to your daddy for a minute." Becky told Abbey.

"Okay." Abbey said. She turned back to her father. "Bye, daddy. I love you."  
"I love you, too, sweet pea."

Abbey ran into the house excitedly. Lonnie watched her go, then turned to Becky. It startled him at times how much Becky looked like his wife. Lonnie supposed that was wishful thinking on his part.

"What's up?" he asked.

Becky suddenly turned grave. "I need a favor."

"Of course. What is it?"

"Albert's back in town." Becky said.  
"What?" Lonnie asked in disbelief.  
"I saw him in town today. He says he's been here a couple days. Says he's just 'passing through'." Becky told him.

"Yeah, right." Lonnie said.

Albert Jenkins had been Becky's boyfriend a few years earlier. He had seemed like the perfect guy for her, until he had fleeced her out of every penny she had. He had skipped town before he could be arrested, and Becky had been left flat broke. Lonnie figured out what her favor was.

"You want me to tell him to stay away from you?" Lonnie asked.

"You know me so well." Becky said, smiling.

"You got it." Lonnie told her. He looked back into the house, where he could hear Abbey moving around. "I wish you'd let me pay you."

"Now, we've had this fight how many times?" Becky responded.  
"More than I care to count." Lonnie answered.

"And you've won how many times?" Becky asked, a smile creeping on her face.

"Never." Lonnie said, the same smile creeping on his face.

"There you go." Becky said. "Have a good night. Be safe."

"Thanks." Lonnie said, putting on his hat and getting into the car to go.


	3. Chapter 3

Two hours after Lonnie had left, Abbey and Becky were cleaning up the kitchen from fixing their 'surprise'. The two of them had fixed cookies for the whole police force, different kinds for all the different people there. Becky told Abbey to finish the cleaning by wiping down the table while she called the police department. The phone rang once when the familiar voice came through.

"Sparta police department. Parker Williams."

"Hey, Parker, it's Becky." Becky greeted him.

"Hey, Becky. You need to talk to Lonnie?"

"Actually, no. I just wanted to see if he was there. Abbey and I made something for you guys." Becky told him, looking in to check on Abbey's progress.

"Oh, really? What would that be?" Parker asked.

"Oh, I've been sworn to secrecy, Parker. If I tell you, I'd have to kill you."

"Oh, alright. Yeah, Lonnie's here."

"Thanks, Parker. See you in a few minutes." Becky said and hung up.

At that moment, Abbey came out of the kitchen. "Can we go?" she asked.  
"Absolutely." Becky said, smiling.

"Can we walk?" Abbey asked.

"I don't see why not. Let's go get the plate."

Five minutes later, the two ladies were hand in hand walking out the front door. Becky instructed Abbey to stay where she could be seen. Abbey loved to walk to the police station, which was a little less than a mile down the road from where she lived with her father. She often said she looked forward to the day when she could walk there on her own. Becky kept a close eye on Abbey, at the same time trying to balance the plate in her hands. About halfway down the road, Becky heard a loud screech that caused her to turn around. A car was careening down the street, going so fast that by the time Becky realized what was going on, it had sped past her and was long gone. Becky looked back to Abbey to check on her, and what she saw made her drop the plate and her stomach clench in fear.

Abbey was laying on the side of the road. Blood was coming from somewhere; where exactly, Becky couldn't tell. One leg was clearly broken. For a second, Becky was in complete shock. No sound could come out. But she soon found her voice and let out an ear piercing scream.  
"Abbey!"

Becky ran to Abbey's broken body, shaking like a leaf in the wind the whole time. She was scared to touch Abbey, scared it would cause the child more pain than she was probably already in. Becky started screaming for help. She hadn't seen anyone around in the moments before the accident, but a little old lady in her seventies came out from the house that the accident had just happened in front of. The lady came to Becky and told her that she'd phoned the police and asked for an ambulance. She asked Becky if she was alright, but Becky didn't respond. Becky just continued to look down at Abbey, shaking and sobbing. Every few breaths she let out a scream. Surely Abbey was dead. No one that small could have survived an accident like that.

"Auntie?"

The word was so faint that Becky wasn't completely sure she had really heard it. She ran over to Abbey's other side, and felt the weight crushing her chest lift slightly when she realized that Abbey was still alive. She fought for control of her emotions and bent down to Abbey's eye level.

"You're gonna be fine, honey." she said, though Becky doubted that Abbey believed her due to the shaking in her voice.

"It huuurrrtss…" Abbey lamented.

"I know, baby. I know." Becky gently stroked Abbey's head, fearful that anything harder than that would hurt her even more. "The ambulance is on the way. Just take deep breaths. I'm right here with you."

"I want my daddy." Abbey cried.  
"He's coming, honey. He's coming." Becky said, praying it was true. "Just stay awake and talk to me."  
"Oww." Abbey moaned.

A police car suddenly came up, along with an ambulance. Becky saw Dee Shaw and Bubba Skinner exit the car and come to them. It took a moment, but when it dawned on Bubba who he was looking at, he felt a knot form in his stomach. The same thought crossed his mind as had crossed Becky's; Abbey had to be dead. But when he heard a cry and saw Abbey move ever so slightly, he sprang into action.

"Oh, dear Lord."

Bubba ran to Becky first and checked her for injuries. She was okay, so Bubba let Dee take care of her while Bubba turned his attention to Abbey. Abbey was hurt worse than any accident victim Bubba had ever seen. He was stunned she was still alive, much less still awake. Bubba knelt in front of Abbey and took her hand.  
"I got you now, sweetie. We're gonna get you to the hospital. The doc'll fix you right up." Bubba told her, trying his best to comfort her.  
"Where's my daddy?" Abbey asked him.

"He'll meet us there, baby. But you gotta go now." he told her.

"Will you go with me?" she asked him so pathetically that it broke Bubba's heart.

"You bet I will. Let's go."

Bubba helped the paramedics load Abbey into the back of the ambulance, asked Dee to stay with Becky and call the station to let Lonnie know what was going on, and finally rode off to the hospital. Part of him was glad to take the ride in the back of the ambulance. He'd do anything to avoid having to be the one to tell Lonnie that his little girl was in danger.

Back at the station, Parker had been sitting and waiting on Abbey and Becky to come. He started to get a little worried when they hadn't gotten there in the usual five minutes it took, but he figured they had walked, so he decided to wait another ten minutes before trying to check on them. Parker heard Dee's voice on the radio.

"Parker, this is Dee. I need you to get Lonnie and the chief on the radio. Right now."

The urgency in Dee's voice made Parker not even acknowledge her, just go and get Lonnie and the chief. Lonnie answered the radio.

"Yeah, Dee, what is it?"

Dee took a deep breath. "Lonnie, you need to get to the hospital right now. That hit and run victim…it was Abbey."

Lonnie felt all the color drain from his face. "Are you sure, Dee?"

"100%. Bubba rode to the hospital with her."  
"Dee, is she…" Lonnie couldn't force himself to say the word.

"No. She's hurt bad, Lonnie, but she's alive. Just get to the hospital."

Lonnie wasted no time. He grabbed his keys and ran out the door, jumping in his car and squealing tires to get out of the parking lot. He raced to the hospital, lights and siren blaring the entire way. He knew he'd catch whoever had run Abbey over, but right now his first concern was getting to Abbey.

_I'm coming, baby. Just hold on. I'm coming._


	4. Chapter 4

Bubba paced the hallway, restless and waiting on news of Abbey. The doctors had taken her to work on her right away. She had been crying in the ambulance, and Bubba felt helpless to do anything for her. It seemed to calm her a tiny bit when he held her hand, but Bubba still felt like he could do more. He wished he could switch places with her. No one could guess it by looking at him, but the sight of kids hurting, especially kids he knew personally, made Bubba want to break down in tears himself. It took every bit of self control he had not to do that. Bubba heard the familiar sound of a police siren pull up, heard brakes squeal, and saw Lonnie come running in. He headed Lonnie off at the reception desk when he heard him ask where Abbey was.

"Lonnie."

"Where is she, Bubba?"

Bubba had never seen Lonnie look so scared. He looked white as a sheet and appeared to be fighting back tears. Bubba grabbed his arm and attempted to calm him down.

"Lonnie, they're working on her right now. She's got a broken leg and a broken arm. Cuts and bruises." Bubba informed him.

"What happened?" Lonnie asked.

"According to Rebecca, they were walking down to the station and a car came around the corner out of nowhere…"

Lonnie realized that he hadn't even thought about Becky with his mind so focused on Abbey. "Is Becky…"

"Oh, she's okay. She's still with Dee at the accident scene."

The words _accident scene _made Lonnie visibly flinch. It had occurred to him in the car that this very easily could have been a different kind of trip. He had informed parents about their children's deaths before, and every time he'd done it since Abbey's birth, he had hugged her extra tight the following day and thanked God it hadn't been her. Lonnie was rarely afraid. But this was definitely one of those times. Bubba was about to tell Lonnie to sit down when a doctor came out.

"Abbey Jamison's parents?" he asked.

"I'm her father." Lonnie responded.

"I'm Dr. Reed. Sir, I know this may sound strange to hear right now, but your daughter is one very fortunate little girl. Her injuries could have been much much worse."  
"So she's…" Lonnie again couldn't finish the sentence.

"She's alive. We checked, but she doesn't appear to have any internal injuries or head trauma. Her left leg is broken, and her right arm was dislocated. She's got a lot of cuts and bruises. We set her arm and that should be better in a few days."

"And her leg?" Lonnie asked.

"It's broken in two places, but they're clean breaks. She'll be in a cast for a few weeks, but I see no reason she won't eventually make a full recovery." Dr. Reed said.

Relief flooded Lonnie's face and his heart. Abbey was hurt but she'd be okay. He let out a breath that he didn't know he'd been holding. Bubba patted him on the back and Lonnie felt his knees go weak. Dr. Reed let a smile creep on his face; it wasn't often he got to tell parents relatively good news.

"Can I see her?" Lonnie asked.

"Sure." Dr. Reed answered. "She's pretty groggy, though. She probably won't stay awake very long. We're gonna keep her in here for a few days." Dr. Reed pulled a nurse from the floor. "Nurse Owens'll take you to see her."

"Thank you, doc." Lonnie responded. Dr. Reed went back down the hallway.

Bubba was almost as happy as Lonnie. "You want me to go with you?"

Lonnie nodded, and he and Bubba proceeded down the hallway with the nurse. She opened the door and Lonnie walked in cautiously. Even though he knew she'd be okay, the sight of Abbey at first took his breath away. She was cut up and bruised, just like the doctor had said. But to Lonnie she looked even smaller and more fragile than usual. Her arm was in a sling and a nurse was in the process of putting her leg in a cast. Abbey smiled when she saw him, though the smile was barely detectable underneath the injuries to her face.

"Hi, daddy."

Lonnie would never be able to describe how it made him feel to hear Abbey's voice and see her smile after she'd been hurt so bad. Lonnie made his way to the side of Abbey's bed, took her hand and hugged her gently.

"You okay, daddy?" Abbey asked him.

"What do you mean, honey?" Lonnie asked her, taking the seat next to the bed.

"You're crying." Abbey said, reaching over and wiping a tear from Lonnie's eye he didn't even realize he'd spilled.

"I'm fine, baby girl. Just fine." Lonnie reassured her, kissing the hand she'd just wiped his tear away with.

Abbey noticed that Bubba had come in the room too. "Thanks, uncle Bubba." she said, turning to him.

"For what, sweetheart?"

"Staying with me." she said.

"Anytime, little one. Anytime." Bubba responded.

Abbey turned back to Lonnie, a huge yawn escaping her throat. "You have to go back to work, daddy?"

Lonnie looked to Bubba for confirmation, who shook his head as if it was the most ridiculous thing in the world. Bubba answered, "Don't even think about it. You stay here, take care of her. We'll find out who did this."

Lonnie nodded. "Thanks."

"Daddy, where's Bunny?" Abbey asked, starting to form the first tears Lonnie had seen from her all day.

"He's at home, baby. You want me to go get him?"  
"No." she whined, grabbing Lonnie's hand.

"Where is he?" Bubba asked. "I'll bring him to you."  
"My bed." Abbey answered, another yawn escaping.

"Alright, I'll go get him and bring him back. But you gotta get some rest, now, okay?" Bubba said.

"'Kay." Abbey said. "Bye, 'cle Bubba."  
"Bye, baby girl."

Bubba walked out and Abbey turned back to Lonnie. She was barely keeping her eyes open.

"I'm going to sleep, daddy."

"Alright, baby. Sweet dreams." Lonnie said.

"You be here when I wake up?" she asked.

"I'll be right here." he promised. "Go to sleep, little one."

Abbey smiled and closed her eyes, holding a hand out to him, which Lonnie took in both of his. For the rest of the afternoon, as she slept, Lonnie sat and watched her, watched her chest rise and fall, rise and fall, rise and fall. He soon fell asleep himself, feeling a whole new appreciation for the fragile little life before him.


End file.
